No matter who you love—or how you display it—Pride Month in Raleigh, N.C., provides plenty of chances to show up, show off and celebrate the LGBTQ community.
The 12th annual Out! Raleigh Pride festival—one of the state's largest Pride gatherings—takes place on June 22 in downtown Raleigh. Drawing more than 50,000 attendees in recent years, it's an all-day, family-friendly affair that has a bit of everything from 11am to 7pm on Fayetteville St. in the center of the city: two stages of live music and dancing, local food and shopping vendors, a beer garden, photo booths, kids' activities and more.
A full entertainment schedule is expected to be released very soon, but headlining acts have already been announced. The queens of the moment will be Dawn, a Raleigh native and drag queen rock star that was recently featured on season 16 of "RuPaul's Drag Race," and Jorgeous, a spicy fan-favorite from season 14 of the same show herself.
Out! Raleigh Pride weekend is rounded out with some other adult-only events, including an afterparty at music venue The Ritz, and an after-afterparty at iconic LGBTQ nightclub Legends.
The rest of the month is filled up as well—see below for more activities that embrace love, acceptance and community in June!
More Pride events in the Raleigh area
- Orville Peck, May 30 at Red Hat Amphitheater
- The Boulet Brothers: Dragula Season 5 Tour, May 30 at The Ritz Raleigh
- DEI Panel with The Diversity Movement, June 4 at Junction West
- Pop Fitness Dance Class, June 6 and June 20 at Poyner YMCA
- First Friday: Adult Drag Story Hour, June 7 at City of Raleigh Museum
- Morrisville Music in the Park Celebrates Pride!, June 7 at Morrisville Town Hall
- Run for Love 5k + Dance for Love Day Party, June 8 at Dix Park and Trophy Maywood
- 2024 Annual Apex Pride Festival, June 8 at Apex Town Hall
- Pride Market + Drag Show, June 8 at Hartwell Raleigh
- Geek and Grub Market: Love & Rainbow Edition, June 8 at Fred Fletcher Park
- The Arena Round 3: Lip Sync Drag Battle Competition, June 8 at KINGS
- Queer Fashion Showcase, June 13 at Junction West
- Dragaganza, June 15 at Ruby Deluxe
- GAG Tea Dance, June 16 at Johnston Street Yacht Club
- Birdsong Poetry Open Mic, June 21 at Blackbird Books and Coffee
- Girls Room Pride, June 21 at Junction West
- Out! Raleigh Pride, June 22 in downtown Raleigh
- GAG! Queen with Jaida Essence Hall & Dawn, June 22 at The Ritz
- Legendary GAG! Afterparty with Jaida Essence Hall and Jorgeous, June 22 at Legends Nightclub
- Amateur Burlesque All-Stars (Pride Edition), June 22 at Ruby Deluxe
- Pride Cary Night Market, June 22 at Downtown Cary Park
- The PrideWorx Show, June 22 at ComedyWorx
- #ForTheLove: NC Courage vs. Chicago Red Stars, June 23 at WakeMed Soccer Park
- LGBTQIA+ in Sports, June 27 at Maywood Hall + Garden
- Mirage at 440, June 29 at 440 Nightclub
- Pride in the Park, June 30 at Downtown Cary Park
Header photo by Keenan Hairston
